Collapsible chairs have been very popular because they are space saving and easy to carry around for both indoor or outdoor use. The demand in comfortable glider chairs for outdoor camping and relaxing has attracted many patio furniture manufacturers to manufacture various glider chairs that are also collapsible.
There are many important factors to consider when manufacturing a collapsible glider chair. The structure of such a chair has to be light weight and strong. It should take as little space as possible if collapsed. In addition, safety in using the chair maybe one of the most important thing. Various support or stopping structures are often added to the chair to prevent it from being tipped over or collapsed accidentally.
FIG. 1 shows an exploded view of a conventional collapsible glider chair that is designed to have both simple structure and light weight. The collapsible glider chair comprises a seat-base frame 101, a back-support frame 102, a pair of link members 103, and a pair of armrests 104. The seat-base frame includes a seat bar 105 for supporting legs. The back-support frame also includes a head bar 106 for supporting the head of a person.
The head bar 106 and the seat bar are connected by an elongated piece of fabric 107 or other material to form a seat base as well as a back-support. To make it more comfortable, a pillow may be added at the head end of the fabric to cover the head bar 106. Both armrests 104 and link members 103 have one end connected to the seat-base frame 101 and the other end connected to the back-support frame 102. Pivot pins are used for jointing the armrests and link members to seat-base frames and back-support frames so that each joint is pivotally connected.
As shown in FIG. 1, the seat-base frame, back-support frame, link members and armrests are connected in such a way that they form a stable chair for a person when the chair is fully opened in an upright position. An additional link bar 108 may also be added to support weight and stabilize the chair when a person is standing up from the chair. For easy storage, the glider chair can be collapsed illustrated in FIG. 2.
As discussed above, it is important that a collapsible glider chair is safe. Because many parts of a collapsible chair are pivotally connected for easy folding, the chair may be tipped over if the weight of a person is not properly distributed. The additional link bar 108 as shown is an example of an additional safety feature for the chair. Nevertheless, the additional link bar also adds cost in manufacturing the chair as well as the space required for storage.
There is a strong need in providing safety features for a collapsible glider chair. The safety feature should add as little cost as possible in manufacturing the chair. The additional weight and shipping space of the safety feature should also be as small as possible.